Our long national nightmare is over. At last, there is an official contract announcement from Danica Patrick!

Danica Patrick confirmed a sponsor deal to drive an IndyCar for the next three years on Monday -- and her plans to drive a part-time schedule for JR Motorsports in NASCAR's Nationwide Series in 2010 remain on track as well, a source close to Patrick said.

Patrick unveiled the GoDaddy.com-sponsored Indy car she will drive for Andretti Autosport on Monday in a Good Morning America appearance. The company said in a statement that the deal to drive the car is through 2012.

That, according to the source, had to take place before she could finalize any plans in NASCAR.

(MORE from ESPN.com)

Jay Busbee of From the Marbles calls this news "underwhelming". Sorry, N-word fans. The rest of you can check out her new neon green ride.

A rose by any other name would still smell as sweet and have all those nasty thorns, and with that comes news of the financial rearrangement of the racing entity formerly known as "Andretti Green Racing". The departures of investment partners not named "Michael Andretti" have been finalized, and now what remains shall be henceforth known as (drum roll, please...)

The former shareholders of Andretti Green Racing have completed a transaction that has resulted in the restructuring and rebranding of the Indianapolis-based company, effective immediately.

The racing team, which boasts three IZOD IndyCar Series championships, two Firestone Indy Lights titles and two wins in the Indianapolis 500, is now solely owned by racing legend Michael Andretti and has been rebranded Andretti Autosport.

Andretti Autosport sounds rather regal and the logo looks very American, although I don't know if Michael has considered that now every contract announcement will be greeted with "(driver x) joins AA", which as many of you know relates to a certain support group for those who have imbibed too much. Not that such an association is really a big deal. I mean, does "AA" sound any more snicker-inducing than "TP" (Team Penske)? Roger Penske is certainly not bothered by such things.

At any rate, AA has much remaining to settle, as they currently have one driver officially signed (Tony Kanaan), one unofficially signed (Danica Patrick), one rumored to be signed (Ryan Hunter-Reay) and one presumed to be signed (Marco Andretti).

For the curious, here is an unofficial list of rejected names for AA:
- Three Men and a Little Lady
- (If Only We Were Just A Little Bit Faster At) Racing
- Bunnies & Rainbows Motorsports
- The White Collar Comedy Tour
- Michael Michael Motorcycle
- The Anthony Fedele Motor Militia
- Team Meeting

The truth behind Danica Patrick's NASCAR plans and the 'unique' way that USF1 is funded.

It was just a few weeks ago the Will Power was discussing his Wolverine-like ability to heal so quickly from his broken back, saying "I've got so much energy...I can do situps, I'm swimming, I'm wrestling Great White sharks every afternoon". (OK, I totally made up that last part, but it's kind of a been a boring off-season for people not named "IZOD".)

Well, now Will officially has a full-season ride in with Team Penske, and that part I'm not making up.

Penske Racing announced today that winning open-wheel racer Will Power will compete in a full-season entry for the team in the 2010 IZOD IndyCar Series, driving the No. 12 Verizon Wireless Dallara/Honda.

Joining forces with Team Penske teammates Helio Castroneves, a three-time Indianapolis 500 winner, and Ryan Briscoe, a top contender for the 2009 IndyCar Series championship, Power will complete a powerful three-car lineup in 2010 for Penske Racing.

(MORE from Team Penske)

It just goes to show that if you want to race for The Captain, all you have to do is agree to contract as a development driver, race six times, finish in the Top 10 in every race, win once, podium on half of the races, then break your back in practice in an accident that isn't your fault. A surefire path to a successful career if ever there was one, and Will certainly proved his worth and paid his dues.

And although this is spectacular news for Will, who seems like a great guy and a talented driver, this is great news for all IndyCar fans as the bonus here is now there will be FIVE drivers who can win at any given race. That's like 25% more excitement than we had in 2009, friends.

But there is good news even for prospective fans, as with each win - and Will is destined to win at least a few races in 2010 - sportscasters everywhere in the English-speaking world will be forced to reiterated that "Yes, his name really IS Will Power", providing an extra 5 seconds of coverage money can't buy. It's almost enough to wonder if some other drivers should consider changing their names to something more noticeable like Ben Dover, Adam Baum or Harry Pitts. I mean, look what a name did for the public interest in Dick Trickle.

Come on, which sounds more memorable: Tony Kanaan, or "Chris P Bacon"? You know the answer.

(Photo: TrackSide Online)

Day 6

Mike Gascoyne of Team Lotus arrives in Charlotte to help out.



There will be some exclusive content coming for members of the new 'USF1 - The Mini Series' Facebook group, so join now!

http://www.facebook.com/#/group.php?gid=206906470019&ref=ts

Kyle Busch and his jaunt in the Indy two-seater gives Peter and idea.

Tonight the Cavin & Kevin show, a.k.a. "Trackside", welcomes a plethora of IndyCar bloggers unto their airwaves to discuss the more interesting facets of the IndyCar series. Or Danica Patrick's unending World Leverage Tour. Or possibly even themselves. Regardless, it's been a year since the dynamic duo last attempted a "blogger night" so they might have forgotten what an utter disaster a smashing success it was.


The guest list of bloggers scheduled to appear tonight includes:

-James from 16th and Georgetown - where Curt Cavin goes to find out news

-Will from Is It May Yet? - the undisputed authority on mustaches in motorsport

-Bill from pressdog - of course

-George from Oilpressure - who in a different era would be employed as a columnist for a national publication

-Monica from The Race gIRL - world-famous fashion model and co-founder of the soon to be epic WinterTweetup

-Paul and Kohl from Planet-IRL - which is a blog, a podcast, a message board, and quite possibly a cable access channel as well.

-Bill from Drive Hard, Turn Left - a fine writer featuring the smallest font in the blogosphere

Your humble host has elected to sit this one out because unlike last year there were a limited number of time slots. Since I haven't had the pleasure of listening to the dulcet tones of most of these scheduled participants I'm greatly looking forward to hearing what my bretheren actually sound like. All of you know what I sound like, and besides I was already graciously afforded time last year on the show...Well, actually I won't be appearing because I'll be stuck in traffic heading home from work here in Arizona while the show is on, but since that doesn't sound terribly noble I'm going to go with my former explanation.

Enjoy the show broadcast live at the 1070 The Fan no matter where you are (as long as you're near an internet connection) at 7pm, Indianapolis Standard Time

Ken is worried but Peter Windsor is inspired!

I'm not sure I want to know what this one says.



(Photo: Nelson Phillipe twitpic)

For the last few months numerous stories have led us to believe that racing - IndyCar or otherwise - was likely to never again appear at the oldest speedway in the country. That too much corruption, mishandling, or plain old bad finances had done in the famed and historic Milwaukee Mile. That the track was going the way of an old, insignificant character in a Monty Python film.


The Dead Body That Claims It Isn't: I'm not dead.
The Dead Collector: 'Ere, he says he's not dead.
Large Man with Dead Body: Yes he is.
The Dead Body That Claims It Isn't: I'm not.
The Dead Collector: He isn't.
Large Man with Dead Body: Well, he will be soon, he's very ill.
The Dead Body That Claims It Isn't: I'm getting better.
Large Man with Dead Body: No you're not, you'll be stone dead in a moment.

The latest round of "not dead yet" focuses on YET ANOTHER group of promoters who have been tentatively approved to take over promotions at the trouble facility, this time including not only promoters who handled the track in the '90s, but also billionaire John Menard.

The Wisconsin State Fair Park Board unanimously agreed Friday to work with local businessmen Frank and Dominic Giuffre on a three-year contract to promote races at the Milwaukee Mile.

The Giuffre group would become the fourth promoter in six seasons, following State Fair Park, Milwaukee Mile Holdings (2006-'08) and Wisconsin Motorsports.

Still left unresolved is a long list of vendors who worked at the track with previous promoters. Those vendors have not been paid. Frank Giuffre said he has reached out to vendors to see if a settlement can be reached. So far, he said, no vendors have contacted him.
(MORE from the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel)

To misquote Hamlet, "therein lies the rub". Prior promoters piled up quite a bit of debt and ill-will, not just with N****R and the IRL but with "a long list of vendors". As much as you or I would wish for it to be so, hanging YET ANOTHER sign that says "Now under new management!!!" doesn't make all of those unpaid bills magically go away, and it doesn't make any racing series still owed money come back to your track. It's all about the Benjamins, baby.

Perhaps The Milwaukee Mile is the Keith Richards of motorsports, a cockroach-like entity able to withstand such toxicity as to be nearly immortal. Or perhaps it dies tomorrow. As a race fan I certainly hope for the former, but I'm not holding my breath.